Visviki Magoula Revisited

Abstract

This paper compares the results of the excavations at Visviki Magoula in southeastern Thessaly, which were carried through by the Reichsamt für Vorgeschichte under the direction of Hans Reinerth in 1941, with the geophysical prospection of the IGEAN project on Neolithic Thessalian settlement mounds by the GeoSat ReSeArch Lab, Institute for Mediterranean Studies-FORTH, under the direction of Apostolos Sarris. The excavations of two deep trenches and the grid excavation on the top of the magoula from 1941 showed the stratigraphic sequence of the settlement starting at the end of the Early Neolithic period and ending at the end of the Late Neolithic period. Furthermore, the grid excavations produced a multi-period longhouse consisting of a sequence of rooms. The geophysical prospection gave insight into the organization of the settlement, which was surrounded by a system of concentric enclosures. Furthermore, it showed that a preceding settlement surrounded by two enclosures existed further east. The area of the longhouse was located in the interior of the central enclosure at its northern boundary, while the center itself was left empty. © 2017 by International Monographs in Prehistory All rights reserved.